Parr Motorsport announces 2004 campaign

Parr Motorsport Announces 2004 LMES Campaign

The Surrey-based Porsche preparation specialist Parr Motorsport has confirmed plans to contest this season's inaugural Le Mans Endurance Series with a brand new Porsche 911 GT3-RSR, fresh from the Stuttgart factory.

Since winning the British GTO title in 2001 with Kelvin Burt and Marino Franchitti, the squad has been concentrating on its role as technical support to the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain, where Parr also manages the works-entered VIP cars for Porsche Cars GB. Representing the factory in the 2001 British GT Championship, when the team not only took the title but also secured the runners-up slot with Ed Horner and Matt Turner, demonstrated an understanding of the marque, and a level of expertise, that has been honed by two further years working exclusively with Porsche. Throughout that time Parr has continued to prepare race-winning cars, courtesy of the many talented and experienced guest drivers invited to participate in the extremely competitive Carrera Cup one-make series.

The arrival of an exciting new series like the LMES, and the return of classic endurance races over 1000 kilometer distances, has coincided with the team's wish to return to proactive motorsport at the highest level. "We have been considering a move towards international competition for some time now," admitted team owner Paul Robe. "All the pieces have finally started coming together now and everyone in the team is really looking forward to the new challenge."

Heading into the international arena will not be a new experience for Parr Motorsport. Paul Robe's outfit took a pair of Porsche 911 GT2s to the Daytona 24 Hours in 1996, following that with second and fourth places in class at Le Mans and then several front-running appearances in the BPRO Global Endurance Championship.

The team is not yet in a position to confirm the full driver line-up, although Paul Robe admits to having had talks with a number of experienced names, not all of them from within predictable GT and sportscar circles. "We are very close to settling upon a very high-profile squad," he conceded, "but there are still some matters to resolve with regard to the final seat. I'm still open to offers, but in essence we hope to be able to make another announcement fairly soon."

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